Day 29 – 30 : Santa Clara

Santa Clara, located almost in the middle of Cuba, was a stop over point for me before I make my way back into Havana city. 

The city is centered around Parque Vidal, where most city life and activities take place. 

On the night I arrived, there was an awards ceremony, attended by the governor of the area.

A short distance walk away is a street called “Boulevard”, and while walking through the street, I felt I had been whisked away into a Hollywood production set in the 70s, except that this is not on a production set, but a glimpse into the daily life of a Cubano.

  

The most famous attraction in Santa Clara is the massive mausoleum, monument, garden, memorial and museum dedicated to Che Guevara.  Entrance to the museum is free, but strangely, they do not allow people to bring in bags, cameras or phones. 

There is a baggage storage nearby where one can leave their items without any charges.  Not sure why this policy exists as there didn’t seem to be anything particular inside the museum that requires this policy to be in place.

It was interesting however, that they managed to gather quite a number of Che’s personal belongings – from his birth certificate, to his grades he got at primary school, and certifications, as well as some drawings he did when he was young. 

The museum also carried a number of pictures of Che, a couple when he was much younger, and I must say, he was a pretty good looking chap when young and without his characteristic beard.  There are also weapons and ammunitions that were used by Che during the various battles he had partaken.

The other famous attraction in Santa Clara is the “Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado” – the site of one of the most important battles in Cuban history, where Che Guevara and his men ripped up the railway line, derailing an armoured train, and defeated the men inside. 

The site shows the actual bulldozer used, and a number of the actual train carriages.  Inside the carriages are various exhibits, ranging from uniforms used, pictures of the historical moment, gallery feature different images of Che, etc.

 

I think there is actually a cost of visiting the site, but as I had went in almost the same time when a tour group was going in, I was never asked to pay the entrance fee

I also wanted to visit the Tobacco factory, however when I arrived at about 3pm, I was told that visiting hours was only between 9am to 1.30pm, Monday to Friday :( 

A guy who was hanging around the entrance of the factory was kind enough to give me some background, and told me that the factory in Santa Clara is the largest in Cuba, where all the tobacco from Vinales and other parts of Cuba would be sent here. 

There are about 100+ workers in the factory, each worker is designated to a single cigar brand, and individually hand rolled. 

There are different brands such as Montecristo, Cohiba, Romeo y Juliet, etc.  Although admission was not allowed, one could peer into the production grounds through heavily grilled windows, that it felt like I was looking into a prison facility.

Many of the staff were curious about me when I peered in, and asked where I was from etc, and at the same time also received numerous comments from the guys such as “Linda”, “Bonita”, “Guapa”.

Just opposite the factory is a shop which sells cigars and rum.  There were 2 Romanian guys who were purchasing a few bottles of rum when I was there, and we started talking.

They were super hilarious – no one knew their names, not even the young boy who was the son of the Casa they stayed in and had brought them to the cigar shop, as they kept introducing themselves as “Fidel” and “Raul”. 

“Fidel” and “Raul” also told me of their story when they were at another hotel at Cayo Santa Maria, that when they went for massage and was asked for the room and name to bill to, they wrote their name as “Fidel Castro”, which subsequently brought in an entire army of security, whom took it very seriously when the name “Fidel Castro” was used.

They opened one of the rum bottles they had purchased and poured for me as well as the shop staff rum to drink, while they smoked cigars.  Before we knew it, the shop staff and the 2 Romanian guys started dancing in the shop. 

“Fidel” then told one of the shop staff “Lisset” that I was a national salsa dancer from Singapore – Lisset, whom was a huge salsa fan, made it a point to make me dance too!  We must had spent over an hour at the shop and finished a whole bottle of “Santiago de Cuba 11 years” rum while we were there.

“Fidel” said they were going to have a dinner fiesta at the Casa they were staying in, and will be having some musicians at their place during dinner and invited me to join them, which was about 15 mins walk from where I stayed. 

These 2 guys sure know how to enjoy life – They had hired a musician trio to personally perform for them over dinner and drinks, which was a huge buffet spread consisting of fish, chicken, beef, rice, and plantain, prepared by the Casa.  Apparently they had the musicians performed for them the day before too.

I could see the musicians tremendously enjoying the food and eating as much as they can.  I got the feeling that this was a major feast for them as they probably don’t get to eat some of the food or ever had such a wide spread.

“Fidel” and “Raul” then opened the 3 bottles of rum they had bought from the store and spent the rest of the night listening to the musicians performing to various songs across Latin America. 

A usual joker, “Fidel” told the musicians that they are hired for the purpose of serenading to me, so that I will fall in love with “Fidel”.  Of course that didn’t happen :D

When I left at about close to midnight (modern day Cinderella! ), the musicians were still entertaining the 2 guys, while they smoked cigar and drank rum. 

Travel is about the people we meet – the fun and laughs I had that day at the cigar shop and during dinner, had certainly made my stay in Santa Clara more memorable.